When you're staring at a blank page or a blank screen, the biggest thing that you can do is just give in to despair, give into blankness. People love to talk about writer's block. And they love to talk about writer's block, because it sounds fancy. It sounds like a real thing. It also sounds like something that you can do nothing about. I have writer's block. I cannot write.
And it is the will of the gods. Now, I must alphabetize my spice rack. Whatever, you can't do anything about it. And that, of course, isn't true.
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I have received long emails from people with writer's block. And I'm going, well, if you had real writer's block, how can you be writing me a long email? But what they're actually saying is, "I'm stuck on the thing. I don't know what's happening. It's dead on the page." And so what you do is 1, start one step away. First thing to do if you're actually stuck, don't just sit there staring at the page, staring at the screen, staring at your keyboard being angry.
Go do something else. Chop wood. Go for a walk. Go for a run. Go for a swim. Go garden. Go play with small children. Go explore kittens. Go feed the chickens. Go do whatever it is that you can do. 2, come back pretending you have never read it before-- the old pretend you've never read it before technique. Start at the beginning, and read it through.
Very, very often, once you do that, where the story should be becomes obvious. Where you went off the rails becomes obvious. And you did go off the rails. The problem is always earlier. Problem's always earlier than the place where the car goes off the road. And now, you're stuck there. You actually took a wrong turning a couple of streets back or a town or two back.
But that's something that you can see. Normally, if you just come to it, and go from the beginning and come through, you'll suddenly go, "oh, well, hang on. Why are we with him anyway? She was much more interesting. And we should be with her, here. It doesn't matter what happens to him." And so I abandon half a chapter that had led me down a dead end and go back. And you can do that.
Nobody but you ever gets to read your first draft. Nobody but you ever needs to know that you got stuck.
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I think the biggest things when you are stuck that you can do, and there's a whole bunch of things-- the biggest thing of all is remembering that you are stuck. Sometimes, it's just you're being shallow. Sometimes, you actually need to be a bit better than you are. Go a bit deeper. Get a bit more honest. Okay, why have I stopped writing this? I've stopped writing this because, if I have to go into it, it's a deeper, darker place.
Maybe you've stopped because, if you wrote that scene, you would be writing a scene you don't want to write. Why don't you want to write it? Why is it painful for you? What happens if you do write it? I remember with "Anansi Boys," I was about a tiny bit, about halfway through, maybe a litt...

Unleash your imagination

Award-winning author Neil Gaiman has spent more than a quarter of a century crafting vivid, absorbing fiction. Now, the author of Stardust, Coraline, and The Sandman teaches his approach to imaginative storytelling. Learn how to find your unique voice, develop original ideas, and breathe life into your characters. Discover Neil’s philosophy on what drives a story—and open new windows to the stories inside you.

Award-winning author Neil Gaiman teaches his tools for conjuring up original ideas, crafting characters, and bringing new worlds to life.